Hunting For Home
by seaweedfma
Summary: Done for the LJ comm, FMA Fic Contest. Prompt 28: Hunt. Academy!Roy Mustang/Maes Hughes. Rated T. This is set in my "Seed of the Fire" universe, but you don't need to read it to understand. No matter how much you search, home is truly where the heart is.


This was done for the FMA Fic Contest on Live Journal, for their prompt- Hunt.

I didn't place in this one either, but I had a good time writing it as well, so that is what is important.

Title- Hunting for Home  
Author– Seaweed  
Disclaimer– Very much not mine.  
Rating– PG-13 for light stuff  
Warning– Some light male/male affection  
Characters– Roy Mustang x Maes Hughes  
Series– Pre Anime/Manga  
Time Line– Pre Anime/Manga academy fic  
Summary– No matter how much you hunt for it, home truly is where the heart is.  
Word Count– 982

Author's Note– This is in my "The Seed of the Fire" universe- You don't have to have read the chapters, just know that it is an academy fic where a younger Mustang and Hughes room together and find out that they have a common attraction- each other.

Roy couldn't have been happier when the end of the semester finally arrived. As they had done the semester before, both Roy and Maes had already arranged to find convenient excuses to stay at the academy over the summer so they could spend some quality time together.

On the last day of classes, as they said their goodbyes to their respective friends, Maes sat back at a distance and watched Roy chat it up with his many female friends- often giving them a hug or a peck on the cheek as he waved goodbye to them.  
By the end of the afternoon, the campus was mostly deserted, and they headed back to their dorm room. Part of the way back, it finally dawned on the alchemist that Maes had been awful quiet for most of the day.

"Hey Maes!" he said, playfully bumping his shoulder against Maes' upper arm, causing the taller man to take a stutter step, then flash Roy a look that made him stop dead in his tracks.

"What's wrong, buddy?" Roy asked, still adopting a friendly, buddy like tone since they were out in public- albeit a deserted public.

Maes silently shoved his hands into the pockets of his dress blues, despite the heat radiating down from sun, which was thankfully finally starting to dip close to the horizon- threatening to break the oppressive heat of the day.

The smile that had been on Roy's face a moment before faded, and he rushed to catch up with his lanky roommate who had continued on after Roy had halted.

The walk back to their dorm room seemed like an eternity to Roy. He tried to open his mouth a couple of times to ask Maes something, or to say something humorous to break the obvious tension- even though that was the role that Maes normally took when Roy got into one of his funks. Usually the raven haired man got frustrated over an alchemical formula that he couldn't figure out, and Maes had always been the one to put a smile back on his face.

But where was that smile now?

Maes, with his long strides, got to the door a few steps ahead of the alchemist. He unlocked the door and stepped in, throwing his keys on the small table that they had put by the door for just that reason.

Roy wasted no time in getting inside and closing and locking the door behind him. Ever since they had become more than friends, it had been necessary to make extra sure that no one accidentally walked in if they were being intimate. Loving someone of the same sex was already complicated enough, without having to deal with how frowned upon it was by 99% of the population.

"Maes, please tell me what is wrong." Roy quickly shed his stiflingly hot blue wool uniform jacket and walked over to his roommate, planting a quick kiss on the base of his neck.

The bespectacled young man pulled away from the kiss. With a grunt, he flopped down in one of the old, ratty chairs that they had in the main living area of their small dorm room. He took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes, closing them for a long moment while he gathered his thoughts.

"It's just..." he started, then paused for a moment. "Aw, nothing." He grunted, leaning his head back in the chair and closing his eyes tight.  
Roy walked over behind the chair and leaned down hovering just inches over the man's skin- glistening slightly with the heat of the day, waiting to see if Maes would pull away again. When he didn't, he gave Maes another soft kiss, this one on the top of his forehead.

"You didn't like me talking to those girls, did you?" He said with a mischievous smile, finally getting to the bottom of his lover's foul mood.  
"Maybe." Maes mumbled his voice barely over a grumbling whisper.

"Aw, come on!" The alchemist reached down and gave Maes' thick, dark hair a tussle. "You know who I always come home to. I have to keep up appearances, ya know. But you know damn well where my heart lies."

Finally, the slightest bit of a smile played across the taller man's lips. It was frustratingly hard to stay mad at his lover, despite his best efforts.  
"I suppose." Maes replied. He was quiet for a moment, then the smile on his face widened.

"You know, it took me this long to finally figure it out. I've been hunting, searching for a place to call home, a place where I would belong. When I came to the academy, I thought this was it. In a way it was- because I can put my sharp wit, and my sharp blades to work. But I found out that there was more. It wasn't until I roomed with you that I figured out where home really was. I have my family, but where they live is their home, it isn't mine any more. This…" He spread his arms out wide and moved them in a circle around the room, "Is home for me. As long as you are here."

When Roy didn't say anything for a moment, Maes looked up and slightly behind him where the alchemist was still standing.

"Roy?"

"Yeah?"

"That was the sappiest thing I've ever said, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

All Maes could do was groan, and put his lightly slap the palm of his hand to his forehead.

Roy's smile grew. "I know a way to put those lips to better work. " He leaned down and gave his bespectacled lover a long, languishing kiss on the lips. When they finally broke away, Maes stood up and grinned. "Your place or mine?" He took his glasses off again and put them on the table, letting his lover lead him home.


End file.
